More from Disposable People by Kevin Bales.

Culture of Slavery in Mauritania
The legislation in 1980 didn’t change the reality of work and exploitation. The government admits that hundreds of thousands of “ex-slaves” do labor in exchange for food and shelter, but they refuse to call hauling water from pre-dawn until after sunset, eating rice and maybe scrap meat, and sleeping on the back porch slavery.

In a country closely guarded against outsiders and functioning as a strict police state, slaves sweep cook, clean, care for children, build homes, shepherd sheep, and haul water and bricks. Slavery here resembles a more old-fashioned slavery, in some ways harkening back to the American South and in some ways even back to Old Testament slavery. This type of slavery “both treats slaves more humanely and leaves them more helpless, a slavery that is less a political reality than a permanent part of culture.”

Most slave families serve the same master for generations. Sale of slaves is fairly rare, so slaves often develop an almost familial loyalty to their masters. When the master dies, the slaves are passed down as an inheritance. Slavery is so culturally ingrained that owners rarely use violence. “Their lives are hard, their spirits and potential suppressed, and their freedom taken away. They are slaves, but they are not seen as disposable, as are the enslaved prostitutes in Thailand.”

Islam increases slaves loyalty to their masters, telling them that to leave would be a sin, and that the only way to get to heaven is to obey your master. Slave owners feel some responsibility to their slaves and often refer to their slaves as their children.

While Islam as a whole limits slavery to only captives taken in holy war, Islamic judges in Mauritania uphold that slavery is lawful under Islam. This attitude is augmented by Sharia (Islamic law), which contains laws favorable to slave owners, such as “show kindness to your slaves” and that a man must “restrain his carnal desires except with his wives and slave-girls, for these are lawful to him.”

Islamic judges also consistently give custody of slave children to the masters rather than the mothers, when there is a dispute. “By moving the children around other households, lending or selling them to friends or relatives, slave holders tie down slave women, effectively holding their children hostage.” Male slaves have no right to their children and often find it easier to run away than fight for their families. Since, by not bearing children, men do not produce as much wealth as women, slave owners usually don’t bother to go after escaped male slaves.

Mauritania is incredibly isolated, but the slowly-growing scrutiny from the outside world has made rulers and slave owners paranoid. In a power play Moors have turned against the Afro-Mauritanians who desire more representation. Moors murdered, tortured, and imprisoned thousands of Afro-Mauritanians from 1989-1991. This sent a message to slaves that anyone who threatens the status quo will be removed. “By inciting hatred against the Afro-Mauritanians the government diverts attention from the plight of the slave population and at the same time encourages the Black Moor ex-slaves to distance themselves from the ‘traitorous’ Afro-Mauritanians.”

Every time there is a government changeover, the new government promises reform and redistribution of land. It never happens because it threatens the White Moors’ power and the government’s stability. It’s also a challenge because there’s simply not enough land to go around. Effectively abolishing slavery would also prove that it had once existed; this threatens Mauritania’s aid from foreign countries. The easier solution is just to deny that slavery exists.

“The contradictions within Mauritania are hard to fathom. Here are slaves who are free, but cannot leave; masters who control everything but fear everyone.”